Andrew Appel

Andrew Appel, director of the Four Nations Ensemble, has enjoyed a multi-faceted career as soloist, chamber musician, educator, and writer. He performs throughout the United States and Europe and his Four Nations Ensemble is held in high esteem.  Mr. Appel has performed at Carnegie and Geffin Halls in New York, as well as halls from the Music Academy of the West to the Smithsonian in Washington DC.  He has been a guest of Chatham Baroque, the Smithsonian Players, and Orpheus and serves as harpsichordist for Opera Lafayette. He has enjoyed critical acclaim for his solo recording of Couperin, Bach, Handel, and Haydn.

Mr. Appel has designed programs in arts education for students and professional development for teachers. He created a program linking the Amarillo Symphony to the public schools. In Chatham, New York, Appel organized festivals of culture and history for third through sixth graders while instituting “salon discussions” between the teachers and art curators, dance historians, musicologists, and arts journalists. 

Mr. Appel has written program notes and articles for presenters around the country including Lincoln Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and National Public Radio. He has participated in discussions on education and chamber music programming at conferences of Chamber Music America, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and the New York State Council on the Arts. He served as President of the Board of Trustees of Chamber Music America.

A native of New York City, Mr. Appel discovered the harpsichord at 14. First-prize winner of the Erwin Bodkey Competition in Boston, he holds an international degree from the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp where he worked with Kenneth Gilbert and a Doctorate from the Juilliard School under Albert Fuller. There and at other universities he has taught harpsichord, chamber music, humanities and music history.